Connection
by CurrentCurrant
Summary: In which Ash's friends are examined and reflected on. Makes Ash sound smarter than he seems and arguable chracter bashing. Enjoy.


_Orange and brown, a son's desire, throw fear of abandonment into the fire. _

In Ash's point of view, Brock was both father and mother of his "family" and Misty was the cool older sister. If you were down in the dumps, they were the ones you would go to for encouragement, or advice, or whatever else you needed. They were both very experienced, but their personalities changed a bit from there: Brock was a sturdy force to lean on when you felt like fainting, but Misty was the willpower that kept you walking along.

Problems? Brock was an unapologetic flirt with pretty girls (in his defense, only girls his age or higher) and Misty spent a lot of time angry. Those personality flaws made them perfect.

_Turquoise and sketchbooks and pictures to see; New friends are like presents and lovely to be._

Tracey...Ash felt kind of sorry for Tracey. If the teenager from the Orange Islands had known how much hate was directed at him, it would break his heart. Tracey hadn't done anything wrong; it was sort of Ash's fault. He had wanted a big brother, but Tracey didn't exactly fit the part and he ended up being merely a next-door neighbor, or something similar. Especially after Ash had become suspicious of Misty crushing on the new kid. But Ash was loyal, even to next-door neighbors, and Tracey was added to the "family" tree.

Tracey simply tried too hard to be like his heroes. The result was a sort of bland, nice guy kind of person. Nice guys finish last, but nobody had the heart to tell him so.

_Glasses kid and brown-haired red, roses and pillows and dreams in your head. _

May and Max were special because they were real siblings. Ash, being an only child (With a single parent, too), needed a real life family to base his on. In exchange, the children of the Petalburg gym leader were allowed to become "children" of the Pewter gym leader. It was kind of too bad that Max would never turn eight, but Ash didn't realize his friends wouldn't age along with him until he met May in Sinnoh. If he had known Max would be stuck in the same timeless predicament, he would have left Hoenn until after Unova.

Max was a know-it-all and May was gullible. Those weren't especially bad faults, only childish. They had a sibling rivalry, too, but that also was forgivable. After all, you need little siblings in a family.

_Pink and blue ribbons hang in the hall, one more cannot hurt the family at all. _

Dawn was a risky choice, but she did okay. The main risk was that she seemed to be aboy magnet, the okay part was that May _adored_ her. Since the "family" needed twins, Dawn and May were as close as Ash could get. They were another perfect duo, so good that even their _boyfriends _worked together manageably.

Dawn was an optimist, but when she was sad, she was _sad, _with a bolded underline that isn't added here for reading purposes. She got better, though, after some confidence lessons and Brock's help.

_Science and faith, purple and green, things to be proven and things to be seen._

Cilan was the big brother. He was good at it; entertaining, patient, energetic and all around fabulous. Iris was supposed to be the cute little sister (a counterpart to the cute little brother Max), but Ash had some doubts about letting her join the family. Ash isn't as dense as he pretends to be, and he didn't want Cilan to react the same way Tamaki did when he realized he liked his "daughter" that way.

Cilan's main problem was that he was so excited over everything. Knowing so much about so much, he came off as a sort of know-it-all. Iris' problems were that she was shy around people and therefore very lonely. Add the two together and all problems were solved.

_A rainbow of colors now in monochrome, across all the world Ash now has a home. _

Frankly, pretending to be a moron was very rewarding. Ash was comfortable wherever he went, because he had his friends by his side. And his friends were better people too.

A little planning goes a long way.


End file.
